London Branch Seminar Details

Abstract Boards of governors in public universities are increasingly pressed by governments to accept an economic mandate by functioning as engines of national economic growth and competitiveness. The success of a board is thereby determined by economic measures and targets, manifest in its approval of partnerships with business, privatized programmes and other commercial activities. Paradoxically, a ‘successful’ board could at the same time be a ‘failure’ if it permitted the university’s academic mission to degrade significantly because of re-allocated priorities and resources. In this paradoxical position, what is the board of governors’ moral obligation to the university community? How could the board be trusted to steward the university in these turbulent times?

A. Scott Carson received his PhD in philosophy of education from the UCL Institute of Education in 1980. Since then, he has taught at several universities and held senior executive positions in business, government and academia. He is currently a professor of strategy and governance at Smith School of Business, Queen’s University. His research focuses mainly on governance and ethics. Most recently he has edited, and written chapters in, three books on the governance of the Canadian healthcare system published by McGill-Queen’s University Press: A Canadian Healthcare Innovation Agenda: Policy, Governance, and Strategy (2018, with Nossal); Managing a Canadian Healthcare Strategy (2016, with Nossal); and Toward a Healthcare Strategy for Canadians. Queen’s (2105, with Dixon and Nossal).